1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a round bale rotary cutter with a hay reprocessing chamber positioned just outside of the rotary cutter drum. As a round hay bale is fed into the rotary cutter drum by a conveyor, a first side of the rotary cutter drum initially cuts the hay into fairly long strands which are then thrown into the hay reprocessing chamber where they encounter the other side of the drum. The strands are thus re-cut within the hay reprocessing chamber to yield shorter strands.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, hay for feeding livestock was cut and baled into relatively small, rectangularly shaped hay bales which were usually stored indoors in barns or other storage buildings. When the hay was needed for feeding cattle, a desired number of these small hay bales were removed from storage, brought to the livestock and broken open for feeding.
This method of storing hay in small bales has been largely replaced by the use of large round bales weighing upwards of 2000 lbs each. Often these round bales are simply left in the field and are moved only as they are needed for feeding. A problem with such large bales is that, in relatively small livestock operations, the entire bale may not be needed for feed at any one time. Even in larger farming operations, a single bale may be sufficient to feed livestock in more than one location. Thus, these bales cannot simply be carried to the livestock and broken open as were the small rectangular bales in the past.
Generally, two feeding methods have developed for feeding round bales to livestock. In a first method, the bales are placed in fixed round bale feeders which are designed to give the livestock feeding access to the bale, but which protect the bale from being trampled or otherwise destroyed by the feeding livestock. With such a round bale feeder, the bale can remain in place for extended periods to feed surrounding livestock.
In a second method, an apparatus is used which cuts the round bale into manageable portions and distributes the cut hay along the ground or into feeding bins for livestock to reach. For specialized feeding operations, such as for dairy cattle or feed lots, for example, the hay must generally be cut into short strands to be mixed with additives and other feed ingredients to promote optimum milk production or rapid growth.
In the past, in order to cut the hay into small enough strands, typically on the order of 8" or less, to be usable with a feed mixture it was necessary to employ a high speed rotary cutter so that individual strands of hay were impacted by knives on the cutting wheel a number of times before being expelled from the cutter. For PTO driven systems, in order to drive a cutting drum at this high a speed, e.g. 2000 RPM and above, a relatively high horsepower, and thus fairly expensive, tractor was required. Furthermore, running cutting drums at such high speeds greatly increases hazards to the operator and bystanders, increases equipment wear and maintenance requirements and shortens equipment life. In order to achieve the required strand length in prior art rotary cutters, it was also necessary to slow down the bale conveyor speed, thus slowing overall hay processing speed. Finally, ordinary rotary cutters expel cut hay strands at high speed through a large exhaust opening such that hay strands are flying in multiple directions, making it difficult to direct the cut hay into a confined space, such as a feed bin or a mixing chamber.
It is clear then, that a need exists for a rotary hay cutting machine which is capable of cutting hay strands into lengths usable with feed mixtures, but which operates at slower speeds, and at higher conveyor speeds than prior art cutters. Such a cutter should also be capable of directing cut hay into a confined space with minimal wastage.